1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to electronic communications and, in particular, to specifying outputs indicating user participation. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to specifying output of channel, topic, and user identifiers in messaging sessions to reflect user participation in messaging sessions.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the Internet and telephony expand, the ease of communications between individuals in different locations continues to expand as well. One type of electronic communication is supported by messaging which includes the use of computer systems and data communication equipment to convey messages from one person to another, as by e-mail, voice mail, unified messaging, instant messaging, or fax.
While e-mail has already expanded into nearly every facet of the business world, other types of messaging continue to forge into use. For example, instant messaging systems are typically utilized in the context of an Internet-supported application that transfers text between multiple Internet users in real time.
In particular, the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) service is one example of instant messaging that enables an Internet user to participate in an on-line conversation in real time with other users. An IRC channel, maintained by an IRC server, transmits the text typed by each user who has joined the channel to the other users who have joined the channel. An IRC client shows the names of the currently active channels, enables the user to join a channel, and then displays the other channel participant's words on individual lines so that the user can respond.
Similar to IRC, chat rooms are often available through online services and provide a data communication channel that links computers and permits users to converse by sending text messages to one another in real-time.
Some instant messaging and chat room systems allow a user to maintain a list of preferred users such that when one of those preferred users logs on, the user is notified graphically and/or audibly of the addition. A user may then select to initiate a conversation or participate in an on-going conversation with a logged-on preferred user. However, preferred user lists are limited in that a user is only provided with the log-on status of other users rather than more useful information such as how a user logged on is spending time or how long a user has been logged off.
In addition, another limitation of current messaging systems is that while a user may view a list of current participants in a messaging session, there is no indicator as to which of those participants are most actively participating. Further, a user may view the number of participants in a particular channel, however the number of participants does not indicate the actual rate of participation within each channel.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for monitoring user participation in messaging sessions and graphically and audibly notifying users of activity of preferred users including factors such as length of time logged on, length of time logged off, rate of participation in a messaging session, number of channels participating in, and other factors that will aid a user in determining the status of a preferred user. Further, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for monitoring user participation according to channel and topic such that a graphical indicator of rates of usage according to channel, topic and user is provided.